Bottle vending mechanism



Aug. 14, 1951 H. M. VERDERY, JR 2,554,552

BOTTLE VENDING MECHANISM I Filed Jan. 27, 1948 4 sheets-sheet 2 Aug. 14,1951 Filed Jan. 27, 1948 H. M. VERDERY. JR

BOTTLE VENDING MECHANISM 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 www Patented Aug. T4, 1951.2,564,552y BOTTLE VENDING MECHANISM.

Holcombe M. Verdery, Jr., (follmbus,P Gamas.-

signor to Nehi Corporation, Columbus, Gam ar.

.corporation of Delaware Application Januar-y 27, 1948, Serial No.4,27s

This, invention relates to a bottle vending. mechanism, and hasparticular reference to an apparatus for. vending chilled bottles ofsoit drinks.. and is adapted to be used in connection with aconventional coin-controlled mechanism.

It has become the extensive practice to install vending, machines forbottled soit drinks in factories.. oiijce buildings, and numerous placesWhelie substantial numbers of people gather and where. no, store isimmediately available where. such goods caribe obtained. A number offorms of apparatus have been developed for this purpose. and whilemostof them are satisfactory from, the; standpoint of operation, they arequite complicated and expensive to manufacture. Moreover., they involvethe use of Va substantial number ofV parts which increases the chancesoi" mechanical difculties, andr are diihcult toservieewhenbreakdownsoccur.

importantV object of theV present invention is, to. provide a. novel andhighly simplied type, of." bottle vending apparatus which requires theuse oil a minimum number of parts several, of. Whi'cliare, duplicates ofeach other, thus greatly reducing3 the. cost of manufacturing theapparai-.us-P v Atfurther' objectv is to provide an apparatus oibhisharacter which makes novel' use of ArchimodesY screw means for bothsupporting the bottles" and feeding them to the outlet of theV apnaiatuswhen such screw means are rotated.

A; further object is to provide an apparatus otthisrcharacter whereinthe loading of the ap,n params. with bottles of soft drinks may be..quickly andi easily accomplished and wherein the` last bottles placed inthe apparatus are the last. tolle dispensed therefrom, thus allowingample timefor the cooling of the bottles.

Ai further object is to provide an apparatusA of; this, characterwherein a plurality of rowsl oi'v bottles up .to a substantial numbermay be simultaneously fedn toward the discharge point anjd dischargedsingly upon each operation of' the' apparatus, and wherein a singlesource of pmver'operates4 all of the screw means employed for feedingthe bottles toward the outlet.

A further object is to provide one or more pairs of Archimedes screws,each pair of which la adapted to support and feed two rows koi bottlestoward the outlet, and to so time the pairs; offscrewsl relative to eachother that they' maybe simultaneously driven upon each operationy of theapparatus but will dispense only a singlebottle-at each operation. i Y

A' further object isA to provide such an appa- 4 Claims. (Cl. 312;-94)

ratlls.. wherein. when. initiated., the. operation of the screw meanswill continue until the.v next singlet bottle. intended. to. be vendeeuis discharged fromV the.. apparatus. and wherein any such bottleimmediately' stopsj the. operation of the `entire apparatus. before,the. screw meansi 'can` dispense another bottle.. A.. further object.,is. to, providesuchan appa.- ratnsl which so takes. advantage. of.; theArchi.- medesfscrew principler that. any gap or, gaps,` in the. stacks:or mwa of.;y bottles will not. interfere with-r the normali operation.of, theqapparatus.. the drive means. for. turning the. screws continuinuntil;v a. bottle. dispensed; whereupon; the. operatsin of, theapparatus. will be. immediatelyl ,am re ed. f

A further Qhict. to. provide an. apparatus 0i the. character. referred,to.. which lends itself particularly welll to. the( use.. of; vertical!screws and verticali` columns oi horizontally, arranged bottles and.to,L proj/ille: in conjunction; therewith a4 plate orplates upon. whichAeach.. bottle. drops as itil is. about to be. dischargedlfromthelappa,.- ratus suchY plate or plates.v` serving to cushion the. bottle,and prevent', damage, theretoi andto serve the additional purpose.'ofbreakng; the motor-operating circuit. to arrest operation. ofthe.armarnatur,l

Qther, obieciis, and` advantages, of. the; invention will' become.apparent during.. the course, ci

, the following description.

In the, drawings; L haveshown. several.l embodiments. ci the, invention.In thisAh showing; Figure li'sahorspectivlevierw showingY thepreferred'gform-.or the apparatus., l

Ei'gure 2, is. a central vertical. ,sectional vie-w,y through the.appara-WS. substantially onune 2 2 ofV Figure Limits peine. brokeneawaa.,y ELfguret is` atventical sectionaliview om line, of.A Figure. 2,. cFigure. 4;, a. horizontal: sectional; view,y on line 4-4 of (Eisma. a isa. horizontes sectional view' oni; line 5v5-0f Eisllrei.

Eisura' (if is a, horizontal; sectional? view/'om line 6j-& of 'FlicuriEiguree. 7/ is: am enlarged?k fragmentary; sectional? viewmnilinel-IoiFiBur 6i, l

Figureiisa. dlasrammaticviewof an` electrical' system-ior'tha-apparatus,

Figure-9lisfa viewsimilartoFleuri-rV 310iL aslightly modied form of theapparatus; portions'being brokenaway: V

10 lsa' verticai" fragmentary sectional view showing a further modifiedform of the apparatus, and

Figure 11 is a horizontal sectional view on line I I--II of Figure l0.

Referring to Figures 1 to 7 inclusive, the numeral I designates acabinet for the apparatus having a front wall II forming a door adaptedto be opened to provide access to the interior of the apparatus. `Thecabinet further includes sidel The door II and Walls I2 and a rear wallI3. each of the front and rear Walls is preferably formed of inner andouter metal sheets I4 suitably heat insulated from each other as at I5.

Mechanism to be described is provided for dispensing one bottle at atime from the apparatus, subject to control by any desired type of coincontrol mechanism generally indicated by the numeral and having a coinslot 2| and a coin return chute 22 operative in any manner for returningcoins if the apparatus is empty. particular coin control mechanism formsno part of the present invention and may be of any desired type.

In the form of the invention shown in Figures 1 to 7 inclusive, fourstacks or vertical columns of bottles are adapted to be dispensed, butit will become apparent that the apparatus may be used for dispensingbottles from two or more of such vertical columns. The apparatus, asshown, thus comprises two dispensing units. Each such unit comprises apair of vertical shafts 25 and 26 (Figures 2 and 5) and these shaftscarry Archimedes screws 21 and 28 respectively. Each of the shafts 25and 26 is supported by a thrust bearing 29 as shown in Figures 2 and 3.These bearings are supported on a plate out away to provide openings 3Ifor the downward passage of the bottles to be discharged, as will bedescribed below.

Beneath the plate 3l), to vsupport the loads on the shafts andspiralsand the load on the bottles carried thereby in a manner to bedescribed, are a pair of channels' or similar structural members andaccordingly one of the channels 35 will be arranged beneath each pair ofthe shafts 25 and 26. The forward end of each channel 35 (see Figure 1lis secured to an angle or other structural member 36 carried by thefront wall 31 of the cabinet beneath the door I I. The rear end of eachchannel 35 has its base turned downwardly as at 38 `andsecured toachannel 39 or similar structural member extending between the side wallsI2.

The portion of the plate 30 forming the two inner openings 3l is turneddownwardly adjacent each such opening into substantially channel shapeas at 42 (Figure 3) to provide sufficient additional structural strengthatsuch portion of the plate 30 to support a pair of vertical guide rods43 to be referred to later.

Each side of the screws 21 and 28 of each pair is adapted to support acolumn of bottles each indicated by the numeral 45. The bottles arearranged between respective convolutions of the screws as shown inFigure 3, and the convolutions of each screw 21 are arranged tocorrespond in position to the convolutions of the associated screw 28whereby each bottle willbehorie zontally arranged. However, theconvolutions of the screws of the two units are arranged 90 degreesapart where two units are employed, and with this arrangement, thebottles will be discharged singly from the apparatus as further referredto below. l I Y The upper ends of the shafts 25Vand 26 are journaled inbearings 5U carried by a relatively heavy plate 5I apertured as at 52for a purpose to be described. The plate 5I may be stiffened to renderit more rigid by suitable channel irons 53 (Figure 3). Each of theshafts 25 and 26 carries a sprocket 55 around which passes a chain 56,as clearly shown in Figure 6. One of the shafts, for example, the rearshaft 26 in Figure '7, is provided with a bevel gear 58 meshing with abevel pinion 59 driven by a motor 60 through a conventional reductiongearing 6I. The motor 60 is connected to the plate 5I. All of the shaftshaving their sprockets 55 connected by the chain 56, it will be apparentthat the driving of one of the shafts by the motor as shown will effectsimultaneous rotation of all of the shafts in the same direction.

The successive convolutions at both sides of the screws of each pair 21and 28 receive bottles 45 therebetween, as clearly shown in Figure 3. Inorder that the bottles will be fed downwardly, the screws turn in aclockwise direction as viewed from the top, and as indicated by thearrows in Figure 6. The downward sloping of the convolutions of thescrews on which the bottles rest tends to feed the bottles radiallyoutwardly relaf tive to the screws, as will be apparent. The bottles ofthe inner two columns of bottles are adapted to contact with and slidealong the single pair of vertical guide bars 43. The bottles adjacenteach side of the apparatus are held in position relative to the screwsby side guide bars 6I lying adjacent the side walls of the casing I0.

The columns of bottles to the left of the associated screws, as viewedin Figures 3 and 6, contact with portions of the screws which moverearwardly in their turning movement and thus Vwill have their cap endsheld in engagement with a rear wall 65 apertured as at 66. The wall 65is spaced from the rear wall I3 of the cabinet to form a chamber 61 inwhich suitable refrigerating coils (not shown) may be convenientlyarranged and the air chilled by such coils may circulate through theopenings 66. These openings will lie between the adjacent stacks orcolumns of bottles and outwardly of the remote columns of bottles, thesolid portions of the plate 65 extending vertically of the planes of thecolumns of bottles so that the caps of the bottles may slide therealongand be prevented from moving rearwardly into the compartment 61.

The bottles of the right hand column of each pair will contact portionsof the associated screws which are moving forwardly in their turningmovement. There may be some tendency for such bottles to be urgedforwardly because of the turning movement of the screws, and to preventany such forward movement, vertical stop bars 18 are provided, and thearrangement of these stop bars relative to the associated columns ofbottles is most clearly shown in Figure 6. The stop bars 10 may be ofangle section, as shown, and they may be fixed at their ends to theplates 38 and 5I. The space between each bar '.'ll and the associatedshaft 25 is sufficiently wide for the insertion of the columns ofbottles referred to from the front of the apparatus when the door II isopen.

The cabinet is provided with a top 'I2 forming therewithin a chamber 13in which any suitable refrigerating mechanism (not shown) may bearranged and such mechanism will be connected to the cooling coils onthe chamber 61. l

Beneath each pair of screws and the associated columns of bottles isarranged a downwardly and 7 where stich switch is placed in a commonoutlet, only one need be employed instead of the two switches 8 5as inthe form of the invention shown in Figures 1 to 8 inclusive.

One or more rods |45 extend lengthwise through the apparatus centrallythereof. This rod or rods will contacttlfe adjacent rows of bottles toprevent them from moving away from their associated shafts out ofengagement with the screws. It will be apparent that the turning of thescrews exerts a horizontal force at a slight angle to the length of theapparatus as viewed in Figure 11 and the rod or rods |45 will act asguide means. One of these rods is sufilcient but it is preferred thattwo be employed in the same vertical plane and these rods willcorrespond to the rods 43 (Figures 3 and 5) of the preferred form of theapparatus. Guide rods similar to the previously described guide rods 6|will be employed for similarly guiding the remote rows of bottles, andsuch guides have been indicated by the numeral |46 in Figure 11. Theserods will extend along the sides of the cabinet and all of the rods |45and |46 may be conveniently secured at their ends to the end walls ofthe cabinet.

Operation In the form of the invention shown in Figures 1 to 8inclusive, a prospective purchaser will drop the proper coin in the slot2| to initiate the operation of the apparatus. The coin controlmechanism may be of any conventional type and will include the usualcoin operated switch |02 (Figure 8). When the coin |03 closes the switch|02, a circuit will be completed through wire |I, switch |02, wire |04,magnet |05, wire |00, motor 60, wire ||0 and thence through the switches85 and 93 and back to the source. It will be understood that theswitches 85 are .biased to closed position and are normally closed,while the switch 93 is biased to open position and is held closed by theoperating plate 92 so long as at least one bottle contacts this plate tohold it in the position shown in Figure 3.

Thus the motor 60 will be energized to drive the shafts 25 and 25, theseshafts being simultaneously driven in the same direction by the chain56. As soon as the circuit referred to is closed, the magnet |05 willattract its armature |00 to complete a holding circuit through wire|00', armature |08, contact |01, vire |06 and thence through the magnet|05 and the remainder of the circuit described. Accordingly the coin |03need only momentarily close the switch |02. The screws 21 and 28 willrotate in a clockwise direction as viewed in Figure 6 and all of thebottles supported by all of the screws will thus move downwardly. InFigure 3 the lowermost bottle at the left side of the apparatus will bethe first bottle discharged when it passes from the end of theassociated screw, and immediately upon being released from engagementwith such screw, this bottle will drop upon the associated plate 81. Theresiliency of this plate cushions the fall of the bottle and the plateiexes downwardly to operate the associated switch button 86 to open thecorresponding switch 85, and thus break the circuit through the motor60. The breaking of this circuit is only momentary since the bottle doesnot remain on the plate 81 referred to. However, the momentary breakingof the motor circuit deenergizes the magnet |05 to drop the armature |08and thus break the holding circuit. No further motor operation willoccur thereafter until another coin is inserted in the machine. Themotor operation will be arrested before its momentum can turn the screwssuiciently to discharge the next bottle.

The bottle thus dropped on the left hand plate 91 as viewed in Figure 3,will roll downwardly toward the center of the apparatus. There is sometendency for the lighter or capped end of the bottle to swing toward thecenter of the apparatus ahead of the heavier part of the bottle, and forthis reason the post 90 is provided. This post will contact the head endof the body and prevent the bottle from swinging across the troughs 16and |1. The heavier end of the bottle will then fall into the slot 11and will slide therethrough to be discharged. The bottle will open thedoor and come to rest in the receiver 18.

It will be obvious that the bottles associated with the two sides ofeach set of screws will be arranged 180 apart in terms of the rotationof such screws. The two sets of screws wil1 be arranged 90 apart, andaccordingly a bottle will be discharged upon each 90 turning movement ofthe screws. Referring to Figure 3, therefore, it will be noted thatafter the discharge of the bottle previously described, the lowermostbottle at the right side of the apparatus will be the next bottledischarged, followed by the right hand bottle of the left handdispensing unit in Figure 3. The next bottle thereafter will be the nextlowermost bottle of the left hand column of the right hand dispensingunit, followed by the lowermost bottle in the left hand column of theleft hand unit. This sequence of discharging the bottles continuesthroughout the operation of the apparatus.

The switch operating plate 92 is arranged as shown in Figure 3 in theembodiment of the invention illustrated therein for the reason that theright hand dispensing unit will be higher than the left hand dispensingunit, which is shortened at its upper end to a slight extent to providespace for the driving mechanism. Ordinarily, therefore, the column ofbottles adjacent the switch plate 92 will be the last column to becompletely discharged. Assuming that the machine has been emptied to thepoint where there are only two bottles left in the column controllingthe switch plate 92, such switch plate will be held in operativeposition by the upper of such two bottles when the lower bottle isdischarged. Upon the discharging of the last bottle in such column, theleaf spring 94 will swing the plate 92 inwardly to release the switch 93to be opened and thus prevent the energizing of the motor circuit. Thusthe apparatus cannot be operated when empty, and the wiring circuitshown in Figure 8 will be utilized in conjunction with the conventionalcoin-control mechanism to return the purchasers coin through the returnslot 22 if the machine is empty. The coin control and return mechanismforms no part of the present invention.

It will be apparent that the arresting of the operation of the motor 60depends upon the operation of one of the switches by a bottle beingdischarged. If there is a gap in any column of the apparatus due tocarelessness in loading the machine, the operation of the apparatus willnot be aifected. When such gap in a column reaches the point where thebottle therein normally would be the next one discharged, the apparatusmerely will continue to operate upon the insertion of the proper coinuntil a bottle from some other column is discharged.

1 One of the advantages of the present apparatus lies in the vvfact thatas additional bottles are placed in the machine, the spaces for suchbottles are automatically provided remote from the discharge point. In-other words, as the bottles are discharged all of the columns.gradually move simultaneously downwardly, thus providing spaces at thetop of the apparatus to be refilled with bottles. These nempty spacesoccurring at points remote from the discharge point, the newly insertedbottles will have the longest possible time to become chilled.

l, Another of the important features of the apparatus lies in the factthat it involves a minimum number of operating parts Imostfof which areconventional.y For example, a single drive 'chain '56 is used and passesaround four sprockets which are duplicates of each other, and the bevelgears 58 andV 59-are wholly conventional. Inasmuch as the weights of thebottles on the screws tend to turn them in a discharging direction, avery low powered motor 60 may be employed. The reduction gearing 6| isconventional and preferably of the worm drive type so as to beirreversible. Therefore, while the weights of the bottles greatly reducethe work which must be performed by the motor, the bottles then cannoteffect turning movement of the screws. The motor 60 is preferably of theconventional automatic solenoid brake type, which is in common use, andthis type is preferred so as to arrest operation of the motor instantlyupon the breaking of the motor circuit. However, it has been found thatwhile bottles are discharged at 90 intervals in the turning movement ofthe screws, a conventional motor 60 for the solenoid brake means isfully operative and satisfactory in use.

The apparatus, of course, is filled by opening the door Il which isprovided with a suitable lock (not shown). With the door opened, theoperator can easily grasp two bottles in each hand and insert thebottles in position between the convolutions of the screws. It requiresvery little time to load the apparatus, as will be apparent. Theextension of the screws substantially throughout the height of theapparatus is preferred since the bottles will be retained slightlyspaced as shown in Figure 3 for the free circulation of the chilled airfrom the refrigerating chamber 61.

The operation of the form of the invention shown in Figure 9 isidentical with that described and need not be referred to in detail.There aretwo advantages to the modified form referred to. In the rstplace, it is slightly more economical to manufacture because of the useof shorter screws H5. In the second place, the capacity of the apparatusfor a given size cabinet is slightly increased since the only bottlesvertically spaced from each other will be those engaged by the screws.The remaining bottles will rest directly one upon the other, and in theaverage size apparatus this will increase the capacity by four bottles,one in each column. It has been found, however, that much bettercirculation of the chilled air is provided with the form of theinvention shown in Figures 1 to 7 inclusive.

In the form of the invention shown in Figure 10, the bottles remain inVertical position and are moved toward the discharge point while in suchposition. There is no advantage in the apparatus shown in Figure l overthose previously described except that it is capable of being installedin stores or similar places at points where the previously describedform of the invention Y l .10 l cannot be used because of their heights.For example, it has been foundythatthere are 4some places where thedesiredv` points .of `installation will be beneath shelving or atftheend of or adjacent one side of -a counter, where itis kundesirable `tohave 4the casing. project upwardly a sub"- stantial distance. The formof the Vinvention shown in Figure .10,can. be made very readily of theconventional height of a store ,counter and may forma continuationthereof. The operating circuits for all vof, the. three forms ofapparatus obviously may vbe identical except that whereasinglekd-ischarge spout is used asin Figure 10, with the switch 139arranged `in suc-h spout, only one vsuch switch lneed be employedinstead of the two switches in Figure y8. Y

As previously stated,.the form of theinvention shown-in Figures 1` to 7isf-preferred. However., all forms of thev invention are highlyadvantageous in use `because of their simplicity and economy` inmanufacture, because of the 'ready-ace cessibility of all .of the fewworking parts,v .and because the rdesign in each case is such that thereis little or nothing to get out of order or be subject to breakage.Additionally, all of the apparatus may be supported solely at the topsand bottoms of the working parts, and this is particularly true in thefirst two forms of the invention, and thus manufacture and installationis highly simplied.

YI claim:

l. A bottle vending machine comprising a pair of bottle vending unitseach comprising a pair of vertical parallel screws having their axesarranged in a common plane, the planes of the two units being parallelto each other, inner guide means between said units parallel tosaidplanes, outer guide means arranged outwardly of the two units parallelto said planes, both screws of each unit being correspondingly pitchedand arranged and having the spaces between the convolutions thereof ateach side of the associated plane forming pockets to receivehorizontally arranged bottles engageable with said guide means, commonmeans, including an electric motor, for driving the screws of both unitssimultaneously in the same direction and at the same speed to move thebottles downwardly, the screws of the two units being identicallypitched but differently arranged whereby single bottles will be releasedfrom the lower ends of said screws upon rotation thereof, a singledischarge chute beneath said units, and a single resiliently supportedplate beneath each unit and onto which the bottles of the associatedunits fall, said plates being sloped downwardly toward said chute.

2. Apparatus constructed in accordance with claim 1 provided with avertical stop member adjacent the upper end of said chute to engage abottle moving to said chute from either of said plates to prevent theassociated end of said bottle from moving beyond said chute.

3. A bottle vending machine comprising means for supporting a pluralityof horizontally arranged bottles, means for discharging said bottlesfrom said supporting means singly at a plurality of laterally spacedpoints, downwardly and inwardly inclined plates beneath said supportingmeans and on one of which any bottle discharged from said supportingmeans will fall to move thereover toward the lower edge thereof, saidplates having their lower edges parallel and spaced from each other, adischarge trough arranged beneath the lower edges of said plates andhaving a bottom a portion of which slopes from if the horizontal, and avertically arranged pin in said trough adjacent the end remote from thelower end of the sloping portion thereof to engage bottles moving intosaid trough from either of said plates whereby the portion of each suchbottle remote from such pin will swing into said trough ahead of theportion of the bottle engaged by said pin.

4. A bottle vending machine comprising means for supporting a pluralityof horizontally arranged bottles, means for discharging said bottlesfrom said supporting means singly at a plurality of laterally spacedpoints, downwardly and inwardly inclined plates beneath said supportingmeans and on one of which any bottle discharged from said supportingmeans will fall to move thereover toward the lower edge thereof, saidplates having their lower edges parallel and spaced from each other, adischarge trough arranged beneath the lower edges of said plates, saidtrough having a bottom one end of which is horizontal and the other endof which slopes downwardly away therefrom, and a pin extending 12vertically upwardly from the horizontal bottom end of said trough toengage one end of a bottle moving into said trough from either of saidplates whereby the other end of each such bottle will swing into saidtrough over the sloping bottom end thereof ahead of the end of thebottle engaging said pin.

HOLCOMBE M. VERDERY, Jn.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,200,228 Simmons May 7, 19402,272,750 Miller Feb. 10, 1942 2,296,154 Elliott Sept. 15, 19422,351,432 Jennings et al June 13, 1944 2,440,251 Devens Apr. 27, 19482,493,753 Devens Jan. 10, 1950 2,496,689 Balzer Feb. 7, 1950

